It's around 200 light years from the nearest McDonald's restaurant, but it might be our best bet to find an alien civilization out there in the cosmos. Called HIP 56948, this distant star is most similar to our own sun in size, mass, temperature, and chemical makeup as reported by astronomers at the McDonald Observatory in Texas.

Despite the fact that other stars have been observed being similar to our sun, the major difference with this one is the identical levels of lithium between the two stars. This is important because less lithium means less activity from the stars which may cause solar flares that can bathe planets in deadly radiation.

Margaret Turnbull of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland has help draw up an existing list of about 17,000 possible targets for the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project called the HabCat. While it may not be a sure thing, the study of stars similar to our sun might still be the best bet to search for alien life. Peter Backus has included the new star in the HabCat list and explains the upcoming search they will be heading using the new Allen Telescope Array:

It's on the list, but I don't think it will be given any special treatment. It's still a matter of speculation on just what range of stars could host habitable planets. We will eventually get around to observing all of the stars [on the list].

What makes the scientists hopeful is the fact that HP 56948 is around one billion years older than our own sun. This gives possible alien life time to mature and produce advanced civilization compared to our own. Observations will begin in November and concentrate more on a wider scale than individually focusing on each star in the HabCat list.